Luke 18:15-30
People were bringing even infants to him that he might touch them; and when the disciples saw it, they sternly ordered them not to do it. But Jesus called for them and said, ‘Let the little children come to me, and do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.’
A certain ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone. You know the commandments: “You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder; You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and mother.”’ He replied, ‘I have kept all these since my youth.’ When Jesus heard this, he said to him, ‘There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own and distribute the money[a] to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.’ But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich. Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’
Those who heard it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’ He replied, ‘What is impossible for mortals is possible for God.’
Then Peter said, ‘Look, we have left our homes and followed you.’ And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God, who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal life.’
In today's passage, we hear about receiving the Kingdom as little children and about a rich person needing to sell everything they have to enter the Kingdom. And we can perhaps read these as connected.
What does it mean to enter the Kingdom of God as little children? Perhaps it is about the wonder and trust that children show. And when they have discovered the wonderful or miraculous, they experience rapture, a total absorption. And this is where that call to become like little children connects to the ruler's reluctance to what he needs to do. He wants to know on to too much – to his wealth and to the Kingdom. This is not the way. Jesus calls him to let go and enter into the full joy of the Kingdom. Those who can, like little children, find the reward of the fullness of life.
May we become like little children. May we enter the fullness of the wonder of the Kingdom. May we there find the fullness of life.